Who Are You Feeding?

There is an old tale about an Indian who becomes a Christian after a missionary shares the Bible story with him. When the missionary returns to the village months later, he asks the Indian how he is doing. The Indian says, “It is like there are two dogs inside of me. One is good. The other is bad. They fight all the time.”The missionary asks, “Which one wins?”To this the Indian replies, “Whichever one I feed the most.”

Isn’t this true for all of us? Don’t we spend a good amount of our life fighting the bad dogs of greed, power, envy, lust, anger, pride and many more?

In 2Corinthians 5:17we read that when we trust in God, we become a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. We are a new creation. Even though the old self is dead the battle is not over. Like a mean and angry dog, the old self continues to wage war with us, tempting us to indulge in old behaviors. Therefore we must spend enough time feeding the “good dog”so that we can be the person God created us to be.

How much time do you spend feeding the bad dog verses feeding the good dog? In other words how much time do we spend daily in prayer and study? Summer time is for many people vacation time. Often our already too little time in prayer or study is even further reduced as we get away from our regular routines. Just where do we spend our time?

Here are some recent time statistics I read:

On average people spend 40 minutes a day, 20 hours a month, 10 days a year or 2 years of a lifetime on the phone.

On average people spend 1 hour a day, 30 hours a month, 15 days a year, or 3 years in a lifetime in the bathroom.

On average people spend 3 hours a day, 90 hours a month, 45 days a year, or 9 years of a lifetime watching TV.

On average people spend 8 hours a week, 24 hours a month or 12 days a year or 2.4 years on Facebook

On average people spend 1.4 hours a day, 42 hours a month, 21 days a year or 4.2 years a lifetime looking at pornography.

On average a Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day, 6 hours a month, 3 days a year, or 7 months in a lifetime in prayer.

So I ask you, what dog are you feeding? We must spend quality time both in prayer and in study with our Lord.

Here we are as Americans in the week of our Independence Day. We celebrate our freedom and independence. While celebrating our political freedom and our country’s independence is clearly a reason to celebrate I want to ask you to ponder this thought.

In this physical world we love our independence. But in our spiritual world we truly gain our SPIRITUAL FREEDOM when we acknowledge our DEPENDENCE on Jesus Christ. We cannot break the chains of sin without Him. By professing that it is through Him, in Him and with Him that we are saved, when we accept that our freedom comes from our dependence not independence we can be free.

So in conclusion, if we accept our Freedom comes from Christ, then we must make time”must feed the good dog” within us. We must find time to be with Him in prayer and study. Make time every day!

As you celebrate Independence Day be reminded we also should celebrate Dependence Day on Christ. Amen.

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired due to a diagnosis of Multiple Scleroses (MS) in June of 2014. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.